Starwood’s Westin San Diego is a participant in the Great Weeks, Grand Weekends promotion. (Image: Jim Glab)

Marriott International has rolled out a pair of point promotions for members of its Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest loyalty programs for winter trips.

Marriott Rewards’ bonus plan is called MegaBonus, and SPG’s is Great Weeks, Grand Weekends. They both apply for stays from January 16 through April 15, with a registration deadline of March 31.

Registered members of Marriott Rewards can earn 2,000 bonus points per stay, beginning with their second stay, plus another 1,000 points for staying on weekend nights (i.e., Friday and Saturday nights most places, Thursday and Friday nights in the Middle East and Egypt). There’s an earnings cap of 50,000 bonus points. The promotion includes the entire Marriott family of brands except ExecuStay, Executive Apartments and Vacation Club.

Breakfast on the Makana Terrace at the St Regis Princeville: great food and killer views (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

SPG members who register will earn double Starpoints for each stay, starting with the second, along with another 500 bonus Starpoints (the equivalent of 1,500 Rewards points) for stays over a weekend night. The SPG promotion has no limit on the number of bonus Starpoints that can be earned. Here’s a list of participating Starwood hotels.

The Wyndham Orlando Resort is part of the Wyndham Rewards program. (Image: Wyndham)

In its latest annual study of hotel loyalty programs, WalletHub found significant differences in the value of rewards and the rules governing the plans. Which one is best for any given individual depends on which aspects of a program the traveler values most, and how much he or she spends on hotels in a year.

The company examined the loyalty programs of the 12 largest U.S. lodging groups, and scored them on 21 different metrics. Overall, it rated Wyndham Rewards as the best loyalty program for the third consecutive year.

Why? For one thing, “Wyndham Rewards offers the most redemption flexibility, allowing members to book award nights at consistent point values and without brand restrictions,” a WalletHub spokesperson said.

But other hotel companies’ programs have their own distinct advantages. For instance, the geographical coverage offered by Marriott Rewards is tops for international travelers, since it has participating properties in 126 nations. Hilton’s Honors plan has the most travel partners – 49 in all – making it the best program for pooling and transferring points, WalletHub said.

Source: WalletHub

In other categories, Best Western is the only chain whose points don’t expire when the loyalty member shows no account activity. And La Quinta members get the best return on their spending, with an average reward value of $13.65 per $100 spent.

On the other end of the scale, the Starwood Preferred Guest ranked 12th out of 12 in the value of its rewards (i.e., return on dollars spent), and in 11th place for the variety of redemption options.

Marriott Rewards members can now shop online at Macy’s and other retailers and earn points. (Image: Jim Glab)

With the holiday shopping season approaching, members of Marriott Rewards can now earn and spend points for purchases at a number of leading retailers.

The lodging giant’s new Marriott Rewards MORE feature is available via a downloadable app and/or a desktop extension that ties the member’s loyalty program account to online purchases at more than two dozen retail sites.

Participating retailers range from Amazon and Macy’s to Walgreens, from Apple and Best Buy to Sunglass Hut. You can see a full list of retailers here.

Members who use the new feature can earn Marriott Rewards points for each purchase at a participating retailer; the amount earned varies – e.g., four points per dollar spent at Amazon, two points per dollar at Ann Taylor. Members can also pay for their purchases entirely with program points, or with a combination of points and cash.

Paying with a Marriott card earns a point bonus. (Image: Marriott)

The first purchase for $25 or more earns the member 1,000 bonus points, and those who pay for their purchase with a Marriott Rewards card will get a 25 percent point bonus for each transaction. Starwood Preferred Guest members can link their accounts to earn Marriott Rewards points while shopping with the app or desktop extension.

Members who shop from a personal computer with the browser extension should first be logged in at more.marriottrewards.com with their member ID and password (or Ritz-Carlton Rewards ID and password). The browser extension can be used with Google Chrome, Safari and Mozilla Firefox.

For smartphones, the new app is available on Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store. You can see all the details of Marriott Rewards MORE here, including an FAQ page.

(Just a word of caution: Some bugs might need to be worked out. The download page for Marriott Rewards MORE at the Apple App Store has a couple of negative reviews from early users.)

Marriott has a new way to achieve United MileagePlus Gold status. (Image: Jim Glab)

For a few years now, Marriott Rewards has offered United MileagePlus Premier Silver status as a perk for its Platinum Elite members, but now it has added a better benefit for customers even higher on its loyalty pyramid.

Marriott Rewards members who achieve the super-exclusive Platinum Premier Elite level can now get MileagePlus Premier Gold benefits. Those include free upgrades confirmed up to 48 hours before departure; free access to extra-legroom Economy Plus seating; equivalent Gold status in United’s Star Alliance, with lounge access on international trips; two free checked bags; Preferred Access priority treatment for security and boarding; and eight award miles per dollar spent on United air fares.

Membership in the Marriott program’s Platinum Premier Elite level is awarded for one year, and only the top three percent of Platinums make it into this category. Designation as a Marriott Platinum Premier is based not on achieving a specific level of stays or spending, but rather on how much a Platinum-level member increases his or her account activity year over year. Other than the new MileagePlus Gold perk, the primary additional benefit of Platinum Premier status seems to be a dedicated phone line and e-mail address for bookings and other dealings with Marriott.

To achieve regular Platinum status, Marriott Rewards members must rack up stays totaling at least 75 nights a year.

If you achieve MileagePlus Gold status on your own, that makes you eligible to get reciprocal Marriott Rewards Gold status; that benefit was already part of the programs’ partnership. And by linking your Marriott Rewards account to Starwood’s SPG program, you get Gold status in that loyalty program as well.

The Marriott-Starwood merger created all kinds of loyalty program linking possibilities. Here’s a summary of some ways to maximize your earnings and rewards.

The app has offered mobile check-in/check-out and room-ready alerts for three years, but now members who check in with the app will be able to request room upgrades and find out before they arrive whether the request was approved.

Users will also be able to ask for a late check-out via the app instead of calling the front desk (late check-out is guaranteed for Marriott Rewards Gold and Platinum members).

With the improved Mobile Requests feature, users can chat directly with hotel staff before, during or after their stay for requests that need personal attention; they can also select from a drop-down menu listing the most common requests (e.g., more towels).

The app’s Mobile Key function, which lets users unlock their room from their phone, is gaining more widespread applicability, coming to another 500 hotels worldwide this year.

The app will let users peruse destination content for their upcoming trips, culled from Marriott’s digital magazine and provided by local experts.

A new user interface uses a one-button design that provides “simple thumb-tap access to everything the app has to offer,” Marriott said.

The app’s functionality will get even more personalized later this year, Marriott said, when it rolls out a real-time messaging service called mPlaces. That will provide users with “travel and hotel information, recognition and offers at the right time and place for Marriott Rewards members throughout their stays,” the company said.

“Over time, Marriott will add more personalized and informative content based on data and driven by beacons now installed at over 500 hotels,” Marriott noted. “For example, members who typically work out while they travel would receive information about the location, hours and services of the hotel fitness facility. Other future app features will enable members to order restaurant and room service menu items delivered wherever they are, such as lounging by the pool.”

Do you use hotel apps? Which ones, and which features, work best for you? Please leave your comments below.

Members of Starwood Preferred Guest, Marriott Rewards, Ritz-Carlton Rewards and JetBlue’s TrueBlue program have new options for racking up program points through credit card usage.

Marriott and Starwood said that effective immediately, U.S. holders of the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card by American Express will earn two Starpoints for every eligible dollar they spend with the card at any hotel that’s in the Marriott Rewards program.

On the flip side, U.S. holders of the Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card from Chase and The Ritz-Carlton Rewards Credit Card from JPMorgan will get five points in those loyalty programs for every eligible dollar spent on the cards at hotels that participate in Starwood Preferred Guest.

It’s the latest step in ongoing efforts by Marriott, Ritz-Carlton and Starwood to integrate their guest loyalty programs following the merger of Marriott and Starwood. Earlier, the companies said that loyalty members can link their accounts at members.marriott.com to achieve elite status matching and unlimited points transfers. At a meeting in New York, Marriott CEO said that members were linking accounts at a rapid clip– about 100,000 per day!

Citi cardholders can now move program points into JetBlue’s TrueBlue program.. (Image: JetBlue)

Meanwhile, banking giant Citi announced that JetBlue’s TrueBlue has become the 14th travel loyalty program to link up with its ThankYou Rewards program.

The company said that Citi Premier and Prestige cardholders will be able to transfer ThankYou points into JetBlue program points at a rate of 1.25 to 1, and Preferred cardholders can do so at a 2-to-1 rate.

At long last, the speculation and worry can be put to rest. The Marriott Starwood deal is done. 5,700 hotels and 85 million loyalty members are now all under the same umbrella.

What can we expect?

First off, I think we’ll see higher hotel prices. Think of all the big cities or suburbs where there is now a Marriott or Renaissance on one side of the street and a Westin or Sheraton on the other, both monitoring each others rates and vigorously competing on price. Without that keen competition, travelers can expect prices to rise. That’s basic economics.

Marriott has a powerful reputation as a tough negotiator. Just ask any corporate travel manager or event planner and you’ll hear that Marriott drives a hard bargain, and that Starwood is usually willing to wheel and deal. With the merger, our companies are left with one giant, hard bargainer.

So, with one less competitor in the market, expect higher rates for corporations as well as individual travelers. Of course, we still have Best Western, Hilton, Hyatt and IHG and smaller players out there who will compete on price.

But low prices only go so far– the Marriott/Starwood behemoth has another huge advantage: its combined loyalty program is going to be tough for travelers to resist. And that’s why Marriott is putting such a strong emphasis on making sure the combined program keeps business travelers happy.

And therein lies the good news for members of the Starwood Preferred Guest and Marriott Rewards programs.

Yesterday, TravelSkills sat down with the heads of Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest, Thom Kozik and David Flueck, to preview what this means to frequent travelers. What I picked up from that conversation is that the status quo will continue for quite some time: The combined company will continue to operate 30 separate brands and two loyalty programs.

The biggest change is that these programs are now linked and offer reciprocal benefits to members. That’s hugely powerful.

Screenshot of the new combined Marriott Rewards Starwood Preferred Guest program

Here are the details:

LINK UP: Starting now, Marriott, Starwood and Ritz-Carlton members can link their accounts at members.marriott.com to enjoy the benefits, recognition and experiences the three programs offer.

STATUS MATCH: Elite status will be matched immediately across all three programs, and members will get reciprocal benefits.

REDEEM: Once your’ve linked your accounts, you can transfer and redeem points across all three programs.

BRANDS: Currently there are no concrete plans to combine or eliminate any of the combined giant’s 30 brands. Regarding merging of the two loyalty programs, Marriott says, “Your Marriott Rewards points will live in your Rewards account and your Starpoints live in your SPG account. The programs will continue to operate as separate entities for some time. In fact, we don’t expect the programs to merge until 2018.”

PROGRAM SEPARATION: Don’t go flashing your SPG elite credentials at a Marriott counter. Despite all the noise about a merger, the programs and hotels will operate as separate entities for a while. That means you’ll continue to receive SPG benefits at hotels participating in the SPG program and Rewards benefits at hotels participating in the Rewards program. But you can’t earn or use benefits across programs — SPG hotels will not offer Rewards benefits, and Rewards hotels will not offer SPG benefits. You’ll only get your points and benefits at a hotel if you’re enrolled in the program in which that hotel participates, so it’s a good idea to sign up for both SPG and Rewards if you haven’t already.

PARTNERSHIPS: With reciprocity, members of Marriott Rewards will enjoy the benefits of Starwood’s Crossover Rewards partnership with Delta. Similarly, SPG members get partnership perks with the United-Marriott RewardsPlus partnership.

CREDIT CARDS: “Both of our credit card partnerships will continue to run as is for the foreseeable future,” said Kozik.

Pool with a view at the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong, which conveniently links lobbies with the Starwood W hotel next door (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

NEW PLACES: Marriott and Ritz-Carlton members can now use points in new destinations such as the Maldives, Santorini and Bora Bora. SPG members can now use their points for stays in Aruba, Tuscany and Kruger National Park in South Africa. Marriott coverage is generally a lot stronger in the Caribbean than Starwood. And on the other hand, Starwood’s properties in Asia generally outshine Marriotts.

RATES: Members-only rates will also apply across all brands– but as usual, you’ll have to book directly on Marriott.com or SPG.com or their associated apps to get the discounts.

APPS: For the time being, you’ll still use your Marriott app for stays at Marriott brands and the SPG app when staying at Starwood brands.

Marriott has put together a very helpful FAQ here. Be sure to check the FAQ out before you ask questions in the comments! There’s a LOT to digest here and we’ll be following it for you! For now, go link your accounts at members.marriott.com.

The new Westin at Denver’s airport is a short walk from the terminal. (Image: Jim Glab)

By the end of this week, Marriott International and Starwood Hotels & Resorts should be a single company – the world’s largest lodging group – after the Chinese Government gave regulatory approval to the merger of the two hotel giants.

China’s OK was the last hurdle that the merger had faced; Marriott and Starwood said in a joint announcement that they now expect the merger to be finalized before the market opens on Friday (September 23).

Of course, the legal closing of the merger is only the beginning of a long and complicated path toward combining the operations of the two companies. For customers, the two biggest questions will be: 1) How will the merger affect the branding of the groups’ hotels; and 2) How will their respective loyalty programs be combined, and when?

Marriott International currently includes 4,500 properties in 88 countries, while Starwood’s roster lists 1,300 locations in 100 nations. Membership in their guest loyalty programs – Marriott Rewards (and the affiliated Ritz-Carlton Rewards) and Starwood Preferred Guest – numbers in the scores of millions.

“We’ve got separate owners of each of these hotels. And our contracts are long term…We don’t tend to have the right if you’re a hotel owner to say we’ve just decided to change the brand name on your hotel to something else…I think instead we’ll try and do what we can to drive distinctions between the brands,” Sorenson said.

As for the loyalty programs “I think we can make sure the benefits stay the same if not get better, but offer them (i.e. members) a broader selection,” he said, although he did not estimate how long it might take to combine the programs. Since then, Marriott Rewards has tinkered with its Rewards program, adding some Starwood-esque bells and whistles such as guaranteed late check out and a concierge service. But there have been few big moves indicating a coming merger of the programs, and we could easily end up seeing two separate programs (with reciprocal benefits) in existence for quite some time. In the meantime, SPG elite members will remain fearful of losing their cherished benefits.

This hotel is located in an iconic clocktower building on Madison Square Park (Photo: Marriott)

Last week I was in New York City to speak at the New York Times Travel Show. I extended my stay to spend a full day checking out five of the newest business class hotels in town. It was an exhausting day, but I loved every minute of it 🙂

There are many more than five new hotels in this burgeoning market, so I chose only among those that opened in 2015… and those that I thought would appeal most to TravelSkills readers.

Here’s a look at the third of the big five…I’ll post all of these in a series over the next few days. Enjoy!

What I like best about the New York EDITION (opened May 2015) is its location south of Midtown on Madison Square Park in the Flatiron district. It is not only a pretty part of town, but it really feels like New York, and not the processed touristy feel you get in Midtown or Times Square. Plus, it is located at a subway crossroads, so it’s really easy to get around town.

Marriott teamed up with Ian Schrager to create the EDITION brand, and his warm-yet-minimalist touch is evident throughout this 273-room, 52-story tower. The iconic clocktower building overlooking Madison Park was once the headquarters for MetLife, with the original CEO’s office now part of the super-popular Clocktower restaurant on the second floor (highly rated by Zagat). The EDITION’s hip lobby bar attracts a fun crowd of guests and locals after work– there’s a DJ on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. And the popular Italian food emporium Eataly is just across the park.

There are 10 room types in this hotel, but the best in the house are those that overlook the park (see view in slideshow). The hotel kept the unusual scalloped ceilings from the office building– they are in 60% of the rooms. The room feature I liked best was the large floating oak table in each room, which serves as a desk as well as an area to eat or drink or work without staring at a wall or a mirror– more hotels should adopt this. In-room wi-fi is free. Like nearly every one of the new hotels in New York, the EDITION sports hardwood floors.

In February, the lowest midweek rates hover around $400 per night– or 40,000 to 50,000 Marriott Rewards points.

Is that Southwest flight to Denver direct or nonstop? (Photo: Southwest Airlines)

Now that we are in peak summer travel season and everyone is flying somewhere, it’s a good time to point out the difference between nonstop and direct flights. Why? Because so many people get it wrong.

Would you choose a “nonstop” or a “direct” flight between Atlanta and San Francisco? What about a “connecting” flight?

Your choice could have a big impact on the price, length and comfort of your trip.

I’m constantly amazed at how many frequent travelers, airlines, agents and even fellow travel writers tend to think that “direct” and “nonstop” are interchangeable terms. They are not. (At least in the U.S.)

If you are wondering which type of flight is best for you, consider these definitions:

Nonstop:

A nonstop flight is just what is says: a single flight between two airports with no stops. Business travelers prefer nonstop flights because they are the fastest. Unfortunately they are frequently the most expensive.

Direct:

While a direct flight might sound like a nonstop flight, it’s not. A direct flight makes at least one intermediate stop along the way to its final destination, but has only one flight number.

For example, if you choose a direct flight between Atlanta and San Francisco you’d fly on one plane the whole way to SFO. But that plane would make a stop in, say, Dallas, or Denver, where it would drop off and pick up more passengers, like a bus. Due to these stops, direct flights can add an hour or more to your total travel time.

I recently took a Southwest Airlines flight from Oakland to Phoenix for a meeting. My flight from Oakland to Phoenix was a nonstop. However, the plane continued on to St Louis. The passengers who stayed on the plane in Phoenix and continued flying to St Louis on the second leg were on a direct flight.

Often, direct flights are less expensive than nonstop flights– but not always. If you have a choice between a direct or a nonstop and the price is the same, take the nonstop!

Connecting:

A connecting flight will take at least two different planes with two different flight numbers to reach your final destination.

For example, a connecting flight from Los Angeles to New York would mean first flying from LAX to Dallas/Ft Worth where you would get off the plane. At DFW you’d board another plane (with another flight number) for the flight to New York.

Connecting flights are almost always less expensive than nonstop flights, but they are not always the best option for travelers who place a premium on time.

Why? First, when you take off and land, you double your chances of encountering delays due to weather or air traffic control. Connecting flights can also take significantly longer than direct or nonstop flights due to long layovers.

Also, you’ll have to bring your carryon bags on and off the plane multiple times in each direction. Connections often mean landing in one terminal, then having to take a train or a long walk to another.

For these reasons, connecting flights are always the least desirable in terms of convenience… but likely the most desirable in terms of price.

What type of flight will you be taking next time? Nonstop, direct or connecting? If you get it wrong, I’ll cringe!

Many companies are still unsure about the safety aspects of ride-sharing services. (Image: Uber)

Although a recent analysis of business travelers’ expense reports showed that ride-sharing services — especially Uber — had overtaken taxis (but not rental cars) as the ground transportation option of choice, new research from the Global Business Travel Association comes to a different conclusion.

Rather than polling business travelers, the GBTA study surveyed corporate travel managers, and it found that rental cars are the preferred choice for traveling employees’ ground transport, cited by 36 percent, followed by taxis (24 percent), chauffeur-driven cars (13 percent) and then ride-sharing services (11 percent).

According to the survey, 24 percent of the travel managers said their companies do not allow employees to use ride-sharing services at all — “by far the highest percentage for any form of ground transportation,” said Michael McCormick, GBTA’s executive director. “In addition, a large number of companies still have not adopted policies around ride-sharing companies, revealing a need for education about the benefits and the risks.”

The risks of ride-sharing are what really concern companies, since “duty of care” is so important to them. That’s the legal principle that says companies can be held liable for things that happen to their employees while they’re traveling for the company.

The survey also asked travel managers what was most important to them and their travelers in selecting a method of transportation. “Topping the list was traveler and vehicle safety, availability for a timely pick-up, and convenience of payments methods, with three-quarters of business travelers and eight in ten travel buyers calling these factors highly important,” GBTA said.

The travel managers said that about two-thirds of their travelers are not familiar with the safety-related aspects of ride-sharing services, like driver certification and training, and local regulations affecting the app-based companies.

“Travel buyers (i.e., company travel managers) are more familiar with most of the duty of care aspects than business travelers, but less than a quarter are very familiar with all of them, showing education is necessary to inform them of the differences between ground transportation methods,” GBTA said.

Last time I arrived at the Marriott Anaheim, the lobby looked like this (Chris McGinnis)

Dear Chris:

Is it just me or are Marriotts getting really old and worn out? I’ve stayed in three in the last five weeks and they were very dated and worn out. Carpet threadbare…tiny bathrooms. Old furniture. Musty smelling.

Marriott used to be a good mid range value but frankly they are reminding me of old Holiday Inns.

Do other people feel this way? Is Marriott planning on any refreshment of these old places?

B.N. Tampa, FL

Hey B.N…. It’s not just you! And not just Marriott.

When we are at the top of an economic cycle as we are now, hotels are full and owners are not willing to close rooms for refurbishment if they can get top dollar by renting them.

When the cycle declines you’ll see hotels start to spend on upgrades.

Along the same lines, I bet we’ll see airlines add back some of the bennies recently stripped away from frequent flyer programs when the economy cycles down again, as it always does…

One way to avoid the thread bare rooms is to remember that hotels typically remodel floor by floor, so always remember to ask for a recently refurbished or new room when you check in.

Alaska Airlines is working with CLEAR to replace boarding passes with biometrics. (Image: CLEAR)

Alaska Airlines has quietly started a test program at California’s Mineta San Jose Airport in cooperation with CLEAR — the security line expeditors — that could lead to the demise of the relatively new digital boarding pass.

The airline has signed up some 200 regular customers at San Jose for an experiment that lets them use biometrics— iris scans and/or fingerprint scans — instead of photo IDs and boarding passes to verify their identity as they go through the airport experience, from checking bags to security to boarding the aircraft.

The airline is working with CLEAR because that company has become quite sophisticated in using biometric identifiers in its airport program, which lets members bypass the security waiting lines and go straight to the checkpoint. In fact, CLEAR’s biometric scanners are so reliable that the company recently eliminated the use of CLEAR ID cards that members formerly had to use. CLEAR currently operates at a dozen major airports, and membership costs $179 a year.

Now, subscribers scan their fingers or irises rather than produce credentials. They’re still required to show boarding passes, but people in the pilot program don’t need them. And when program participants board an Alaska Airlines plane out of San Jose, they swipe their fingers on a tablet rather than show boarding passes.-San Jose Mercury News

Participants in the Alaska Airlines pilot project were personally invited by airline staff at the airport, or by email.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, the test program has had occasional glitches with the scanners, and some security experts claim it is still possible to fool the devices by putting a copy of someone else’s fingerprint over your fingertip, but these are seen as solvable problems.

It’s only been a couple of years since airlines introduced the digital boarding passes that are now widely used, but in these days of high-speed technological innovation, their days could already be numbered.

Wi-Fi or cellular at the airport? The answer isn’t easy. (Image: Hyatt)

Wefi, a company specializing in mobile data analytics, took its testers to the nation’s seven busiest airports and determined that Denver International had the fastest Wi-Fi, while Atlanta and San Francisco had the slowest.

Denver’s average Wi-Fi speed clocked in at 4.73 megabits per second (Mbps), while ATL and SFO logged relatively measly rates of 3.05 and 3.26 respectively. The data was collected from March through May of this year.

If you can opt for a Wi-Fi connection or a cellular network at the airport, which should you choose? “That depends,” Wefi said. “While Wi-Fi connections beat out cell connections on average, at Hartsfield, JFK and LAX some cell carriers beat out free Wi-Fi.” (See charts below)

While Denver topped the Wi-Fi list at 4.73 Mbps, its cellular connections by comparison were just 3.52 Mbps. At Atlanta, by contrast, T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T all offered faster cellular alternatives to the relatively slow Wi-Fi.

“I wouldn’t want to comment on this ranking without a bit more detail on how the measurements were made,” said San Francisco International spokesman Doug Yakel. “That said, airports take varying approaches to Wi-Fi speed. Some locations may allow unrestricted Wi-Fi, which could provide for faster speeds on a quiet day, but result in poorer performance at busy times. Think of it like the Autobahn; you can go really fast if no one else is on the road.

“We’ve taken the approach of maintaining a ‘speed limit’ of 5 mbps to ensure an acceptable speed even when its busy. We’re seeing very high rankings on Wi-Fi in customer satisfaction surveys, so we think the approach is working. Our Wi-Fi is still free (and ad-free) and unlimited at all bandwidths, and we continue to increase the number of access points around SFO.”

Wi-Fi vs. cellular speeds. (Image: Wefi)

Cellular speeds. (Image: Wefi)

Do you notice much difference in wi-fi speed among airports? Which airport has the best wi-fi in your opinion. Please leave your comments below.

How often do you misbehave on business trips? (Image: Natla Kolava/Flickr)

Be honest: Have you ever done something you’re not proud of while away on business — the kind of thing that you really, really regretted the morning after?

Hey, we’re not judging. And you’re not alone. A new survey of 1,000 business travelers found that 27 percent of them (33 percent of men, 24 percent of women) admitted to binge drinking while out of town on business. And 11 percent (14 percent of men, eight percent of women) said they had picked up a stranger in a bar on a business trip. (Two percent of men said they do that on every one of their trips.)

The survey was conducted by On Call International, a provider of customized travel risk management services to corporations — i.e., making sure employees stay safe when they’re traveling on business. (This is a growth industry; a legal principle called “duty of care” has been cited by courts in holding companies liable for the safety and well-being of their traveling employees.)

Perhaps it’s not surprising that eight percent of the survey respondents said they had lied to their bosses about their misadventures on the road. And four percent, the survey found, had been detained by the police.

The safety risks of binge drinking in a strange city are obvious. As for the other thing, “While it certainly appears that the allure of a one night stand without the constraints of being close to home is tempting to many business travelers, letting one’s guard down in an unfamiliar setting can easily lead to dangerous situations for an individual. This includes assault, robbery and otherwise avoidable accidents leading to serious bodily injury – not to mention reputational damage for the employer,” said Jim Hutton, Chief Security Officer at On Call International.

Editor Chris McGinnis

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